Investing.com – Share markets in the Asian Pacific region opened higher on Friday, following modest gains on Wall Street overnight.

By 11:10 am AEST (1:10 am GMT), the added 0.7%, the lifted 0.1% and the gained 0.9%.

In North America, the and saw gains for the third consecutive session on Thursday as investors anticipate a key inflation report. Both indexes are not far off from their record highs achieved earlier this month. Meanwhile, the also saw a small increase of about 0.1%.

Investors are eagerly awaiting fresh insight into the U.S. economy with the release of the on Friday. This inflation gauge from the Fed is expected to show a 2.6% rise in May from a year earlier.

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In the bond and commodity markets, the yield on the benchmark 10-year note slipped to 4.287%, down from 4.315% on Wednesday. was up 1.3% to US$86.39 a barrel, while stayed flat at US$2,326.70.

In Asia, Chinese shares ended lower, primarily due to retail and auto stocks. Hong Kong shares also closed lower, with tech and consumer stocks dragging the market down. Japanese stocks followed suit, with brokerage and pharmaceutical stocks leading the losses. On a brighter note, Indian shares continued their upward momentum, closing higher for the fourth consecutive session.

In Europe, UK stocks slipped with the falling 0.6%. Major companies such as Next 15 Group PLC and Currys PLC posted significant declines. However, DS Smith PLC saw the largest gain during the session, surging 16%. European shares closed mixed, with the STOXX Europe 600 Index down 0.4%, while rose 0.3%.